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The Anchoress, Elisabeth Scalia, over at First Things is usually thoughtful. Usually wrong, of course, but thoughtfully wrong. But her analysis of the controversy surrounding Shirley Sherrod earns her a spot on today’s Yahoo Watch.
Scalia writes that Sherrod blamed the NACCP for her firing, which is not exactly what Sherrod said. Sherrod noted, correctly, that the focus on her was in response to the NAACP’s resolution calling on the Tea Party to renounce those in its ranks who peddle in racism. She did not “blame” them if by blaming we mean to suggest a moral responsibility. And, there is no comparison between the NAACP resolution and what Andrew Breitbart did. The NAACP asked the Tea Party to denounce those who attend its rallies carrying racist signs, and yes, there are such signs. Mssr. Breitbart, on the other hand, willfully distorted a video to suggest that Ms. Sherrod was saying the exact opposite of what she was saying.
There was a time when conservatives were known for their own denunciations of moral equivalence, but those days are past. Ms. Scalia’s blaming the NAACP for what happened to Sherrod, and equating her firing to the NAACP resolution regarding the tea Party, would be ridiculous if it were not so insidious.